Trust, Philanthropy, and That One "Office" I Had

There’s an ongoing discussion in the nonprofit world about our relationship to for-profit businesses - specifically if nonprofits should be run more like them. Throughout different parts of my career I have fallen on different sides of this argument, but today I think we’re asking the wrong people the wrong question.

Here are things that I wish nonprofits would allow themselves to do in the way that for-profits do: put real value in branding and marketing; invest in market research; experiment; pay generously; have comfortable offices.

But of course the problem isn’t as simple as “allow themselves to do.”

Marisa FalconApril 30, 2019overhead myth, philanthropy, trust, bias

What I Learned From Running A Children's Theatre Camp In A Barn For 15 Years

So here’s a thing about me: I grew up in Virginia on a dairy farm and for 15 years my three sisters and I ran a musical theatre summer camp for elementary and middle school children out of the barn. It all started in 1992 when my oldest sister and her best friend decided that instead of just working with the local community theater, they wanted to put on their own plays. So they convinced my dad to clear out what had been the original milking parlor (which, conveniently, had a raised rectangle with a wall behind it, aka a stage) and began what would eventually be a decade and a half long project.

Marisa FalconApril 26, 2019musical theater, delegation, communication, ceding power, mistakes, collaboration, editing

How Financial Transparency Could Revolutionize Giving

I went to a workshop about the new accounting laws for nonprofits (I’m very fun at parties). The instructor informed us that according to the new standards, organizations are now going to have to list not only their total assets but the restrictions on those funds so that at the bottom there’s a total of what is actually left for general operating.

In his discussion of this, the instructor kept saying - this is a huge deal. You’re not going to want to do it; your Board isn’t going to want to do it. It’s going to make your finances look bad. Funders are going to panic. This is huge (and this is bad).

Which is all true. But maybe it’s about time people realized just how bad it is.

Marisa FalconApril 19, 2019philanthropy, nonprofit management, financial management, foundations, fundraising, budget

It's My Birthday So I'm Going To Talk About One of My Favorite Things: Women Leaders

If there is one thing the nonprofit world is good at (besides, you know, providing the services the government will not) it’s amassing amazing women. As with everything else, this is in part because the patriarchy and the fact that the caring for the sick, elderly, impoverished and underserved is generally seen as “women’s work” and we can also go into a rant about why that’s part of the reason that the work is underpaid but we’re going to put that all aside for now because, again, it’s my birthday and I just want to talk about things I love.

Marisa FalconApril 16, 2019birthday, female leadership, women in power, nonprofits, philadelphia, women's way

Where This All Started

There are a number of reasons why I left a full time job at the end of 2018 to begin this work. I have been in the nonprofit sector for over a decade and despite my love for the people, the passion, and the work that comes out of it, there is deep dysfunction that runs through it. For years I’ve been watching this dysfunction, talking to family and friends about how to manage it, and I decided I wanted to change it.

Marisa FalconApril 11, 2019nonprofit management, millennials, transparency, intro

hello@marisafalcon.com